Day 4 in Vienna June 16th- Utopian confession

It was a great day today here in Vienna and I decided to visit the Architecture Museum based on my thoughts yesterday and after the visit my thoughts on Vienna are more defined and refined. I love it here but for some reason I really miss Budapest and can't wait to be back on Wednesday. I can't help but to draw more comparisons between Budapest, Vienna, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco. LA really stands alone on this one because it's not your typical utopia, it's not even a good tourist destination and aside from it's major problems (dependence on automobile, lack of a true urban center and void of a good mess transit system) but it's a wonderful place to live. SF bay is really LA under it's facade but one has to choose: looking at the beautiful facade everyday or live in a wonderful climate. I don't think I can live in the cold climate of the bay area nor would I want to be in beauty constantly where i would loose the sense of appreciation. I think in all cases NYC is the perfect city in that sense but it's far proximity from nature is just too negative for me.

I love city life, where world class culture activities are just within your reach but we are human beings and need places to escape/ reflect and Central Park is simply not enough and 5 hours drive to get out of the city is not acceptable. This is where Budapest comes in; it's an ideal place; wonderful city life, and nature is just a bridge away; LA is that way too but the political climate and the under developed democracy makes Budapest not a suitable place for many to relocate.

Vienna is the perfect utopia in theory (or in appearance?) but very much like Communism it's wonderful in theory but humanity would not allow it and it's a wonderful fantasy. I also don't know how a middle class person would live in Vienna and it is only a utopia if you can afford it. I also feel the constant flow of tourist in Vienna is a bit tiring and the city should have a tourist containment zone (interesting architecture theory project).

After a few days in the city I do realized that If i ever give up on myself and need a third career to fall back on I should be a prostitute because there are 3 men so far, talked me on the street and made kissing sounds at me in Vienna. I now understand some women can feel totally harassed, I just want to give these guys a finger and said F you.

I also realized that my "big" sun glasses doesn't work here in Vienna and being Asian doesn't work either.... everyone dress so well here even older people. People are very fashionable without being cheap looking (like another european country i did my residency in, i won't give out any names) I can pin point whom are the locals and visitors especially Americans, they always wear shorts and a t shirt.

I miss Budapest because it has an authenticity that Vienna doesn't (or tries hard to hide or clean up).

Day 17- June 4th: Lost and Found

Lost:
(I meant to write about this 4 or 5 days ago but haven't had a chance to)

It was one morning when I stated to plan my daily material hunt and site visits than I noticed my map is gone. I became frantic and started to panic because it became my perfect assistant and it was tattooed with notes, dots and routes taken. It's a young map but had aged gracefully with layers of tapes to keep it in shape. I felt this was personal lost, as if I have lost days of experiences. I than realized even the physical map is lost the mental map is still fresh in my mind.

Found:

I worked on my art today and did some writing. I spent a good amount of time in the park painting and prepping my art pieces for the next stage of production. I feel the sense of urgency to speed up my work as the residency is coming to an end. It has just over one week left.
Around 430pm I decided to take a break and visit the Terror Museum 2 locks away. It was a very unique experience and the museum is devoted to the history of the Hungary's Communist rule and Nazi period before the Communist occupation.

The museum is divided into exhibition “story rooms” and each room is design to reflect different historical events during the occupation. The museum is very well designed and modern. It really conveys the massage through its minimalistic design and color representation. It is so powerful it made me completely uncomfortable and I can sense the sadness and hopeless of these people of the time.
I had tears in my eyes as I walked through the exhibits, some imagery are too hard to watch and stories are too tragic to listen to.... this experience was nothing but the triumph of humanity and once again the Hungarian people found themselves.

This experience made me have a even greater appreciation for having been born in Taiwan, not China and for living in the United States.